The American Chemistry Council (ACC) applauded the Texas Legislature for passing HB 1953. When signed, Texas will become the sixth state to pass legislation to promote advanced plastics recycling and recovery technologies to convert more post-use plastics into valuable raw materials.
“Legislation such as HB 1953 attracts new businesses and supports job creation by treating post-use plastics as raw materials for ‘manufacturing’ and not as waste. We thank Representative Ed Thompson and Senator Kelly Hancock for their leadership in managing this important legislation and urge Governor Abbott to sign this bill into law,” said Craig Cookson, senior director of recycling and recovery for ACC.
A recent report by ACC found the potential economic impact of expanding advanced plastic recycling and recovering technologies, also called chemical recycling, in the U.S. to be nearly $10 billion. Simultaneously, demand for recycled plastics is growing, according to a report released earlier this month by the Closed Loop Partners. If chemical recycling technology companies meet growing demand, they have potential revenue opportunities of $120 billion in the U.S. and Canada.
“Plastics are valuable materials that should be used and reused,” added Rick Wagner, sustainability policy and program manager, for Chevron Phillips Chemical Company. “By expanding chemical recycling facilities, we can repurpose more plastics and meet the growing demand for recycled plastics. HB 1953 will help make this a reality in Texas.”
Texas is the largest chemical manufacturing state in the U.S. with over $117 billion of industry investment. Texas joins Florida, Wisconsin, Georgia, Iowa and Tennessee in passing similar legislation, reinforcing states’ growing recognition of the economic and environmental benefits of recovering post-use plastic resources. “Advanced recycling and recovery technologies provide a wide array of opportunities for Texas,” added Hector Rivero, president and chief executive officer of the Texas Chemical Council.
In Texas, it’s estimated that converting the state’s post-use plastics into transportation fuel could power 859,700 cars each year. Experts also determined that converting just 25 percent of the state’s post-use plastics into manufacturing feedstocks and transportation fuels could support 40 advanced recycling and recovery facilities and generate $501 million in economic output annually.
Published in the June 2019 Edition